A new cybersecurity report commissioned by Apple paints a bleak picture of consumer data being exposed in one breach after another. It is in this climate that the tech giant is urging users to enable the Advanced Data Protection feature for iCloud, which it launched a year ago and which encrypts most data uploaded to and sent between Apple’s apps and devices end-to-end.
Cybersecurity breaches of corporate systems that expose consumer data are on the rise, says the report, written by MIT computer science professor Stuart Madnick – 1.1 billion personal records were exposed in 2021, growing to 1.5 billion records exposed in 2022. Bad actors are increasingly using “vendor exploitation attacks” to infiltrate companies through other companies they’ve partnered with or through software systems provided by vendors.
The Advanced Data Protection feature doesn’t explicitly protect users from these breaches; rather, Apple is urging owners of its devices to use the feature to prevent their personal devices from becoming vectors of attack and exposure. Turning it on is easy on iOS: open the Settings app, tap your iCloud account, tap iCloud, then tap Advanced Data Protection and follow the instructions to set up account recovery options – you’ll need them once end-to-end encryption is enabled for more data categories.
iCloud already protects 14 sensitive data categories, including health information and passwords, in the iCloud keychain with end-to-end encryption. Advanced Data Protection is an optional feature that adds seven more protected categories for a total of 23, including iCloud backups, notes and photos.
Apple declined to say how many users have enabled Advanced Data Protection.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy advocacy group, praised the Advanced Data Protection feature for protecting consumer data – particularly for encrypting iCloud backups that could potentially expose user information.
